Costumes And Confusion
by turbomagnus
Summary: It's Halloween Night in Amity Park and Danny decides to talk a walk and take in the sights. One-Shot with Epilogue.
1. Costumes And Confusion

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental _multi-fandom_ project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 31 October. I know some of my readers have been waiting for what today would bring...

In the immortal words of Samuel L. Clemens... "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR."

Disclaimer: "Danny Phantom" and all associated characters and situations are created by Butch Hartman and used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.

* * *

><p>-o0O0o-<p>

"Costumes And Confusion"  
>By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'<p>

-o0O0o-

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><p>Jasmine 'Jazz' Fenton looked over her younger - he took offense at 'little' - brother's costume, "Seriously, Danny? It's bad enough that you're taking part in this modern parody of ancient traditions, but could you have picked a more... inappropriate costume?"<p>

Danny looked down at what he was wearing, "What's wrong with my costume?"

"How about blatent violation of the concept of a 'secret' identity?" Jazz folded her arms, "Or even better, Mom and Dad thinking that you want to follow in their career path."

Almost as if summoned, their father, Jack, stuck his head through the doorway into the kitchen where his children were, "Did somebody say something about following in my footsteps?"

Jazz and Danny looked at each other in a moment of shared horror before the younger Fenton sibling managed to spit out a protective lie, "No, Dad, we were saying that you and Mom need to remember to turn off the traps on the front steps and path - we don't want a repeat of last Halloween, remember that?"

"How was I supposed to know that wasn't a real ghost?" Jack replied.

"Dad," Jazz rolled her eyes, "It was a kid in a bedsheet. It _looked_ like a kid in a bedsheet. You're lucky I was able to convince the parents not to sue if we paid the medical bills."

"It still looked like a ghost to me," Jack pouted, "People shouldn't let their kids dress up as dangerous things like ghosts, you can't blame a person like me for defending their home and family when they see a ghost..."

His son decided to stop Jack before he could build up steam for a good 'all ghosts are evil and must be destroyed, preferably dissected molecule by molecule' rant, "Hey, Dad, I think I saw Mom putting some fudge in the candy bowl for trick-or-treaters..."

Jack gasped and disappeared from view, leaving behind only the echo of his cry, "Maddie! Don't give away the fudge!"

Jazz looked at Danny, "That _was_ evil."

Danny checked his hair-style and slipped on a pair of glasses before answering, "That was not evil... simply effective."

Picking up and shrugging on the backpack that was laying at his feet, Danny left the house by the kitchen door, leaving his sister to stand there and shake her head.

* * *

><p>-o0o-<p>

Danny walked down the street with a smile on his face, watching as giggling princesses and proud superheroes ran past him in every direction with their parents or guardians calling after them to slow down and wait up. It was a sad smile because he had no memories of his parents doing the same with him, they had always been more concerned because Halloween was the night when the barrier between the ghost and living worlds was at its thinnest and they considered it their duty to protect all the innocent and naive children who didn't understand the danger they were in from ghosts. His only consolation was that at least Halloween didn't have a Santa-like figure for his parents to argue over every year. There was the rumble of an engine as a motorcycle pulled up to the sidewalk just in front of him and one of the three riders looked back over their shoulder at Danny.

"Kinda cliche costume, ain't it, man?"

Danny snorted, "Mine's cliche? Look who's talking - a ghost biker dressed up as a ghost biker, I thought Halloween you were supposed to be something you're not. Gotta ask, though, who did your flames, Johnny?"

Johnny 13 shook his head and it faded from being a flaming skull back to his usual appearance, "Guy I know taught me a few tricks. So, what, you having fun taking candy from babies or something? Ow, hey!"

Kitty looked at him harshly, "You deserved it, Johnny. Danny wasn't starting anything, there's no reason for you to do it tonight either."

"Kitty?" Danny did a double take, "Wow, I hardly recognised you in that get-up... X-Men, right?"

"Yep!" Kitty chuckled, "Just call me Shadowcat for the night."

"They're both girls named Kitty who walk through walls," Johnny explained casually, "She feels a kinship."

The two boys started to laugh until Kitty smack Johnny across the back of the head again and Danny found himself having to dodge a shuriken that was thrown at him from the bike's last passenger. The diminuative do-gi and hood-garbed figure raised a finger and wagged it at Danny in a no-no gesture.

"Aah! My tiara! My costume is ruined!" a voice shouted from the direction that the shuriken had went, "How will I ever convince Inviso-Bill that I'm the princess of his dreams without my tiara!"

Cringing at the sound of Paulina's name for his ghost form, Danny looked at the ninja on the motorcycle, "Nice shot, Youngblood."

The ninja slumped down in his seat and spoke, "Aw, how'd ya know it was me, Phantom?"

"I've seen you pretending to be a pirate and a cowboy," Danny shrugged, "This was just process of elimination that you'd be a robot, an alien or a ninja... and since it was a ninja with Kitty and Johnny, well..."

"Aw, man!" Youngblood moaned, "I can't believe I was that predictable..."

Danny grinned at the 'younger' ghost, "Maybe next year."

"So, you making any candy raids?" Johnny asked.

"Nah," Danny answered, "I'm just enjoying the sights."

Johnny looked at a passing girl dressed in a Slave Leia costume before commenting, "I'm sure you are."

"Not those sights," Danny answered, smirking as Johnny recieved another headslap from his girlfriend, "The decorations and stuff."

"Well, you enjoy that," Johnny replied, shaking his head slowly as his skin appeared to slough away leaving bare skull to burst into flame, "We've got candy to get and houses to TP - and only one night to do it all in."

With a laugh, Johnny took off down the road leaving a trail of flame behind his motorcycle.

"Woah," a kid nearby dressed as Spider-Man exclaimed, "I wish my bicycle could do that..."

* * *

><p>-o0o-<p>

It was about an hour later when Danny saw something he almost couldn't believe. He rolled his eyes at the sight of the younger girl dressed up as Ember McLain - even after the rock star's amazing plummet from grace thanks to Tucker's inability to carry a tune in a bucket with a lid on it, some people still remained fans, though it was no-where near the mind-controlled numbers that it had once been. If he had to guess, he would say that the other girl with her was probably an older sister or babysitter, she didn't seem old enough to be 'Ember's' mother since she seemed to be about his own age, dressed in a purple 'catsuit' complete with cat ears and a whip at her waist. When they turned to head back down the walk to the street after getting the candy from the house they were at, Danny noticed something that made him freeze in surprise; he recognised the two girls, especially since one of them was his own clone and she had dressed like the girl with her normally did. They didn't see them as they continued on their trick or treating, but narrowing his eyes, Danny followed them up the walk to the next house, reaching them just as Dani knocked on the door.

"Mind explaining what's going on here?" He asked sharply.

Ember and Dani turned at the sound of his voice, but before either of them could respond, the door opened and an older lady in her fifties or sixties looked out at them with a bowl of candy in one hand.

"And what are you this evening?" the lady asked Dani.

Turning around, Dani answered her with a smile, "I'm a rock star!"

"Yes, you are," the lady agreed, "Just like Gene and Paul. You know what goes good with rock stars? Paydays. You're not allergic to peanuts, are you?"

Dani blinked, "Uh..."

"She shouldn't be," Danny cut in, "None of her family is."

"And such a cute family," the woman observed as she put candy in Dani's bucket, giving Ember a knowing look, "She takes after her father, doesn't she? Don't worry, I'm sure the next one will look more like you."

Now it was Ember's turn to stare and blink, "Uh... Thanks?"

"You're quite welcome," the lady smiled at them, "Enjoy your Halloween, dears."

As soon as the door shut, Danny looked at the two girls and repeated, "Explanation?"

"I wanted to try trick or treaking like a normal kid," Dani answered, "Ember agreed to bring me since people don't trust kids without people watching them and since she had some spare outfits, it was easy to dress up like her for it."

"Okay, that's you," Danny nodded, turning his head to look at Ember, "What's your excuse?"

Ember looked at him for a moment as she thought to herself, 'What would Catwoman do?' The solution she reached was, in hindsight, an obvious one. Taking two steps closer to Danny until she was pressed up against him, Ember ran her hand across his chest and up onto his shoulder to pull herself into him for a kiss that took him by surprise and gave her the opening needed to slip her tongue into his mouth. After a moment, Danny felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and jerked back, leaving Ember to flex her fingers and show off the claws in the fingertips of her glove.

"Me-yow," Ember teased saucily, "Don't you know that cats do whatever they feel like whenever they feel like it?"

Unhooking his neutrona wand from his proton pack, Danny flipped the connecting power cable over Ember to pull her back to him for another kiss, then stopped when her mouth was only inches from his.

"Wait," Danny muttered, "Those are your clothes she's dressed in, right?"

"Well, duh, dipstick," Ember rolled her eyes.

"Which means that's also one of your guitars."

"So?"

"Dani..." Danny turned his head to look suspiciously at his younger sister/clone, "You didn't hit us with the love spell setting or anything, did you?"

Dani looked at them innocently, "Would I do that?"

"More importantly, Babypop," Ember added, "Would it matter?"

He didn't get to answer as she kissed him again, Dani giggling to herself as she watched them.

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><p>-o0O0o-<p>

Author's Note: The complete costume list is as follows;  
>Danny "Phantom" Fenton as Egon Spengler from "Ghostbusters"<br>Johnny 13 as the Ghost Rider from Marvel Comics  
>Kitty as Kitty "Shadowcat" Pryde, from Marvel Comics' X-Men<br>Youngblood as a generic ninja  
>Paulina as a princess.<br>Ember as Selina "Catwoman" Kyle  
>Dani "Phantom" Fenton as Ember McLain<p>

Dedicated to Harold Ramis, co-creator and co-star of "Ghostbusters", who passed away earlier this year - thirty years since he and the others first introduced us to Egon and all the rest of the "Ghostbusters" characters. Even if there's another "Ghostbusters" movie, there'll never be anyone to replace him and his character...


	2. Epilogue: After Halloween

Author's Note: The 365 Project is an experimental _multi-fandom_ project to write and post at least one short every day for the next year, not including my semi-regular bi-weekly updates. For more details, see the relevent section in my profile. This is The 365 Project, 1 November.

In the immortal words of Samuel L. Clemens... "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR."

Disclaimer: "Danny Phantom" and all associated characters and situations are created by Butch Hartman and used for entertainment purposes without permission or intent to profit.

* * *

><p>-o0O0o-<p>

"After Halloween"  
>By J.T. Magnus, 'Turbo'<p>

-o0O0o-

* * *

><p>Jack Fenton was groggy as he walked through the living room of the Fenton family home-slash-headquarters of Fentonworks, not registering the presence of his son and a girl on the floor in front of the couch covered up by a blanket and a younger female version of said son piled up on the couch above the two. He was just too tired after standing guard against ghosts all night to pay attention to anything except finding his way to the kitchen to pour him a cup of processed bean fluid. The liquid was black, strong and steaming and as soon as the first hot drop touched his tongue, Jack's mind began to rapidly process everything that had happened since he had crawled out of bed.<p>

_'Slippers, stairs, living room, Danny, Danny's girlfriend, girl-Danny, kitchen, coffee... wait...'_

Slowly, Jack set his cup on the kitchen table and walked back into the living room to take another look, mentally tallying what he saw.

_'Son... girl under blanket with son... younger girl on couch who looks like son..._'

Blinking, Jack took another look before crossing the room and climbing up the stairs, walking down the hall to the master bedroom where his wife was just beginning to stir.

"Maddie," Jack said in a calm tone, "Did we have a third child, a daughter that I've forgotten about up to this point?"

Maddie looked at him and frowned, "No, Jack, we just have two children; Jasmine and Danny... what makes you ask?"

"In that case," Jack replied, "Danny has a lot of explaining to do... after I regain consciousness."

Then he collapse onto the floor, leaving Maddie standing there shaking her head and deciding to walk downstairs and see what had Jack acting so weird. It was only a couple minutes before her furious shout echoed throughout the house...

**"Daniel James Fenton! Just **_**what**_** is going on here?"**


End file.
